Gym Myths: Will Weight Lifting Make You ‘Manly’?
The truth on lifting weights and being getting toned
“I need to tone. I just don’t want to get too big. I don’t want to be manly.”
You hear that a lot from women when they talk about lifting weights. Actually, you hear it from men too. They just aren’t as concerned with being too manly since, well, they’re men.
Many women still associate weight lifting with the classic meathead ‘gym bro’ that inhabits most gyms. That’s the image many still hold as their example of what heavy weight lifting will do to you.
On the flip side, a petite woman with a flat, but defined midsection and small, chiseled arms is more favorably labeled as “toned”.
The resulting myth: lifting heavy weights will turn you into a giant, testosterone leaking meathead while light weights and more reps will give you all the definition and ‘tone’ without the added size.
At best, this is a cliff notes to weight lifting chapter title. At worst, it’s problematic and harmful to your goals. Allow me to explain.
Muscle vs Fat: The Size Difference
Above you see how my body changed as my body fat % went down. I kept lifting heavy weights (75%-80% of my 1 rep maximum) the entire time in order to preserve the muscle I had built before I began to drop the fat. Yet, despite the heavy weight lifting, I became leaner and even a bit smaller.
That’s because body fat takes up more space than muscle. You’ve heard that muscle weighs more than fat, but that’s not true.
Like the classic riddle between a pound of bricks and feathers, a pound of muscle and a pound of fat are the same: they both weigh a pound. However, muscle is more dense than fat and so a pound of muscle appears smaller and takes up less space than fat. So, two people who weigh the same can appear vastly different in size if one has a higher body fat content than the other because the more fat you have the larger you’ll appear.
That toned look you’re after isn’t dependent on how much weight you lift. It depends on your body fat %. Fat sits on top of our muscles. The more fat we have, the less muscle we see and the more soft and flabby we look.
The takeaway from all this is that by gaining muscle and losing fat we actually appear smaller and of course more ‘toned’. We want to stimulate as much muscle growth as possible by lifting moderate-heavy weight for about 8–10 reps and 3–4 sets. Combine this with a diet high in protein and lower in calories and we will find that, in time, our body eats away at the fat to make up for lost calories from our reduced calorie diet. Yet, we continue to stay lean and preserve muscle by consistently lifting weights and keeping our protein high to preserve and even grow muscle tissue.
Here’s Why The Meatheads Get Bigger, But You Won’t
Up to that point in March ’16 I was actively eating more than my body needed, putting me in a caloric surplus; meaning I was purposely gaining weight. I did this because doing so promotes higher levels of muscular strength and size growth.
The side effect of this is that I also added a proportional amount of body fat since the body stores any extra calories as stored energy in order to prepare for times of need like, for example, when we are losing weight and eating less calories.
This is the same reason why you won’t get bigger from lifting heavy weights — you aren’t gaining weight. If your goal is to be leaner by dropping body fat and adding lean muscle, you should not be eating more calories than your body needs, you should be eating less or maintaining.
The reason I appear bigger on the far left is not because the weight I was lifting was adding more muscle. While I don’t have a body scan with the exact numbers, I would actually say that I had roughly the same amount of muscle at 189.5lbs as I did at 205lbs. The difference is that my body fat percentage was much lower — 6% lower to be exact and because fat takes up more space than muscle, it made it seem like I was bigger than I actually was.
However, when I reduced the fat I uncovered the lean muscle that was buried beneath the entire time. Those abs were always there. The muscle in my chest was always there. They just didn’t shine through until I lost the body fat.
Here’s What You Should Do To Get ‘Toned’
If you want tone, you need more muscle. Muscle gives your body the firm, toned shape you want. The more muscle you have, the tighter your body will look. However, if your body fat is too high, the muscle won’t show through.
Remember, body fat sits on top of the muscle almost like a car cover sits on a car. We can tell that there’s a beautiful Lamborghini underneath the cover, but we can’t observe all it’s fine details and curves because the cover is still there. It isn’t until we remove the cover that we can see the full beauty and craftsmanship that the car was intended to display.
You must remove your car cover — your body fat. Do so by reducing your caloric intake by 500 calories a day, continue to take in lots of protein to preserve and continue to build your lean muscle, and keep lifting heavy weights to promote muscle growth. Mix in some perseverance with lots of consistency, and you have a recipe for success.
If you enjoyed what you just read, tap that heart button and/or leave me a comment! Your feedback is insanely important to me — I read and reply to all of it.
About The Author: I’m Zach Newman. I’m an ACE Certified Personal Trainer. Conversation is insanely important to me. Its why I love creating things because creation sparks discussion and discussion is the best way to learn from each other. Whether its about fitness and health, what books to read, or what’s going on in the world today, my goal is to build the best community around conversations that better the lives of everyone involved.
Join my journey on Facebook | Follow my story on Instagram | Talk to me on Twitter
